"The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together’. THIS IS THE LIBERATION WHICH WE ARE PROCLAIMING."
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas (2002)

Friday, October 16, 2015

Brutal attacker of 56 year old woman in Cuba gets away with attempted murder

Man who attempted to murder dissident gets six years but has a pass to leave prison when he wants.

The man who did this to Sirley in Cuba is free to walk the streets today

Cuban human rights defender, Sirley Ávila León, age 56, was gravely wounded in a machete attack on May 24, 2015 at 3:00pm by Osmany Carrión who had been "sent by state security thugs." She lost her left hand while raising it to block a machete blow to the head that would have surely killed her wielded by Osmany Carrión. Carrión continued the attack striking again at her head and she blocked the blow with her right arm which the machete cut deep and through the bone, breaking it. At the same time Osmany's wife grabbed the severed hand and threw it into a filthy pig pen contaminating it so that it could not be re-attached. The attack went on with further machete blows on both legs. A detailed breakdown of the event was posted previously on this blog, and is repeated here for one simple reason.

In Cuba where there is not an independent judiciary and all is subject to the whims of the dictatorship the nature of the attack and the "judicial process" involving this case did not charge Osmany Carrión with aggravated attempted murder but with the lesser charge of "bodily injury" and sentenced him to six years in prison. However he has a pass to enter and leave the prison during this time effectively leaving him free, and adding weight to the charge that the attack was engineered by state security. While the UN celebrates the Castro regime's treatment of women this is what is happening in Castro's Cuba today. On the day of the attack Osmany Carrión told her that he would decapitate her and that he would not spend much, if any, time in prison for what he had done to her and the Castro regime has made that prediction a reality.